Occupying the Dream

This month, we celebrate the birth of one of America's greatest movement leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The effects of his work cannot be overstated, yet his dream of a beloved community remains just out of the reach of most members of our community.

Looking back at the work of Dr. King, we see that many of the issues he fought for remain unrealized. This leader, whose life ended in our city, worked to build a movement around the issues of inequality, hunger, poverty and economic injustice that marred the community of his times and continue to plague our communities today.

In Memphis, we need only step outside our front door to see that the struggle King advanced is ongoing on so many fronts. Hunger is rampant, homelessness continues to rise, living wages are not paid, and low-income communities continue to suffer.

The Occupy movement that rose to prominence in 2011 was able to do for a short time what needed to be done for so long — steer the national conversation back to the issues of economic fairness and equal opportunity that our country was founded upon.

In many ways, Occupy was able to reawaken a conversation that questions the effects of a government beholden to corporate and special interests. As King did in his later years as leader of the Poor Peoples Campaign, the Occupy movement questioned how we can remain beholden to the interests of elite America while our communities suffer from economic insecurity without a path to self-sufficiency and prosperity.

As a community, we must rise together to speak in a loud singular voice that overcomes the few voices of the elite, whose power buys them the virtual microphone of privilege.

This is the work the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center aspires to. This is the work we will be celebrating this month. The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center opened its doors on King's birthday in 1982 as a nod to a movement leader whose legacy we work to continue.

Please join us as we celebrate out 31st anniversary at 7 p.m. Jan. 19.

Jacob Flowers is executive director of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center.

Peace and Justice Gala

What: Mid-South Peace and Justice Center celebrates its 31st year with a dinner and gala.